Shaving notes of the MaineYooper

Best shave to date! 2nd shave on the Personna GEM blade, too. Today I achieved my standard of a really comfortable and close shave.

Today's shave topped yesterday's shave! We are heading in the right direction. Absolutely no irritation and no red spots. I'll put more over on the Sabre's thread for completeness. But I am really liking this razor and noticing more things as we progress.

YAY !!!

Glad to hear it Eric. Well done!

To recap the Sabre shaves, I had a rough first two shaves that seems to have been the blade. Stropping a new blade last Wednesday led to 5 great shaves use the L1 safety bar. This morning I flipped the bar to L2 and cautiously started shaving.

Sabre L2 safety bar
Personna PTFE GEM (6)
Mystic Water Soap Sensitive Skin
Trotter Supernova handle with Muhle STF XL knot

Lather and lathering up were great. I really enjoy the STF knot, and Paul Trotter's (Stubble Daddy) space handles that I acquired are some of my favorites both to use and to look at!

On the first downward stroke, I could feel more blade (or whatever makes you wary!) but I went along with it and worked to ride the cap more than being at a steep angle. By the time I moved to another quadrant, I was feeling more secure and not as bothered by that "aggressive" feeling. By the end of the shave, I was practically doing a Snoopy dance!



I may ask over on the Sabre thread, what exactly are others feeling? I mean, I know there is blade exposure and blade gap that play parts in efficiency. I don't know if what I am feeling is really a blade forward feel, i.e., exposure, or if it is gap. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts and experiences with other razors! For the Sabre, it reminds me of both the Vector that I had, and the Blackbird that I tried. So I know it is a Blackland thing. One of the aspects I remember liking about the original Sabre was that I didn't experience that feeling much, just a tad on the Level 2 plate. But it wasn't giving me the efficiency of some vintage GEMs or my Overlander, so I sold it. 

Hope we all here in the US have an enjoyable Labor Day! And for those in other places, may your Monday be a good one!

I just listed my first telescope on FB Marketplace. We'll see how that goes. My relatives use it a lot, but I have only tried it once, years ago, with no success. I was then trying to sell used tires. I might have been better off putting them at the end of the drive with a Free sign by them!

Good luck!

A new to me brush arrived Tuesday, after doing a special USPS side quest to parts north of here, then going back to southern Maine, and then to me. 



Today was the second use of this wonderful brush from Paul mrdoug. The handle is Cosmic, by Sawdust Creations, and the knot is an AP Shave Co. Pure Bliss 26mm. It did a great job lathering some Denton Majik soap yesterday and I decided to stick with it as I am enjoying it.



Today I used a cream from Ethos, Tibu Sabuni, but had too much water in the brush, so that initially I had a foamy lather. But this bowl is made for such things, having an overhanging inner lip, so I proceeded to Devo it. (Whip it, whip it good!) I ended up with a good sheen on the lather and it did the job.
Aluminum Overlander with Knopf handle
Personna CC blade (5)

A comfortable and close shave!

Coffee and astronomy update

On the coffee front, I have been enjoying great pour over cups with the Bean & Bean Rio Nights coffee. Bean & Bean are a mother and daughter specialty roaster in NYC, and this bag was part of my Trade Coffee trial. I cut back the amount from 18g coffee/300mL water to 15.x grams, and having some really good cups. For the work days, I am using Jim's Organic Coffee brewed by autodrip and taken in a thermos to work. 

On the stargazing front, I finally got out under the stars for a brief look-see last night. I knew I'd need to retrain my eyes, and my eyes are older now! Observing is a skill, and when you haven't done it for years, you need to get back in practice for seeing and observing. It sounds silly, but here is an example.

Back when I first started, I tried to find galaxies, and maybe I did? What I saw was more a small, gray smudge. So small that you could lose it while trying to look at it. Then, several years later, I was working my way through an area, looking for what are known as Messier objects. Turns out, that galaxy was 1 of 3 that are in close proximity to each other when viewing. And 2 of them, including that first one, stood out like a flag planted on a hill! I remember being so excited to see 2 so easily, while the 3rd was a bit more challenging. It wasn't until working on my notes (which were in a computer planner that I have somehow lost or they got corrupted) that the program told me I'd recorded one earlier. There was my note, about how difficult it was and how uncertain I was about what I was looking at. That is when I realized that seeing and observing is a skill and that I had learned it and had no difficulty with 2 of those 3 galaxies! I had a different eyepiece, but the scope was the same small 6" reflector. It excites me to think of what I can see in the bigger scope!

And another thing I learned is planning. I didn't plan. I just walked out at 9pm, set the scope in the driveway and tried to look around. The plan last night should have been to set up my card table for the kit case, and have a chair. While the new scope's optical tube assembly is almost 4' tall, it is shorter when not looking directly up! Being bent over was no fun. I needed to be in a better position to aim the scope, which is sighting along the tube, and that meant kneeling down and then standing up and rinse and repeat. The scope is fine, the views crisp, but the user needs to think ahead more!

On the other hand, I had gone out 20 minutes earlier with just binoculars and stumbled accidently across one of my favorite asterisms, the Coathanger. It looked great in the binoculars! 

Bottom line, the old adage is true: proper planning prevents poor performance!

Eric,

Thank you so much for listing the roasters you are trying from your Trade Coffee trial!
I found a coffee on the Bean & Bean site ('Kenya Peaberry') that I have added to my buy list (when it is time to order more coffee).

I have never tried looking for galaxies but it sounds like you are having a good time with it.